Beverage case repair brackets



Nov. 24, 1959 H. A. GUSTAFSON BEVERAGE CASE REPAIR BRACKETS Filed April 5, 1957 A f/ /0 8 4 k Haze/7 A. Gustafson IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent The present invention, as the title implies, relates to simple and practical brackets which areconstructed for I mending and repairing a damaged or broken beverage case or shell as it is sometimes called, used for racking and handling beverage bottles.

More specifically the invention pertains to a simple, practical and economical bracket which is such in construction that it is ready for quick and easy attachment to and retention on the partitioning walls forming the cells of the crate or case without requiring the use of nails, screws or equivalent headed fasteners.

Stated otherwise the invention has to do with repairing and reinforcing brackets which are capable of being applied and securely anchored on the upper edge portions of the partitioning walls with the use of a simple pair of pliers, each bracket having a body portion to span the space required in a manner to serve as a partition or divider and to in this way take the place of a missing cell wall in a practical and reliable manner.

Briefly, the invention in its preferred embodiment comprises a plurality of wire strands which form a body portion which is adapted to lie in a plane with the plane of the upper edges of adjacent case partitioning walls and to, at the same time, provide the function of a missing wall portion, and depending bendable wire fingers at the respective end portions of said body portion, said fingers being spaced from each other and having free lower ends terminating in pointed anchoring prongs directed inwardly toward each other, said fingers being adapted to adjust themselves to and embrace cooperating portions of the partitioning walls with which they are connected and held in their intended position.

An object of the invention is to structurally, functionally and otherwise improve upon similarly constructed and performing beverage repair devices, for example, a similarly constructed and performing repair bracket disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 524,047 filed on July 25, 1955, now Patent No. 2,842,279, granted July 8, 1958.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a plurality of partitioning or cell-forming walls and showing, what is more important, two of the repair brackets and how they are constructed and used.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing one form or embodiment of the repair bracket.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view in which a second form or modification is disclosed.

Fig. 4 is a view on an enlarged scale and which is fragmentary in nature and taken on the plane of line 4-4 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Reference is made first to Fig. 3 wherein it will be evident that the bracket is fashioned from a plurality of strands of wire of suitable gauge. The elongated horizontally disposed body portion is denoted generally by the numeral 6 and comprises four strands of wire 8 which are bunched together or laid along side each other in compact parallelism. The respective'ends of the wires are bent laterally to provide attaching and retaining fingers which are arranged in pairs. That is to say, the fingers of the inward pair at the respective ends are denoted by the numerals 10 while the fingers of the outward pair are denoted at 12. All of the fingers terminate in pointed anchoring prongs and the prongs 1 4 are directed toward the prongs 16 so that the fingers of the pairs may properly straddle the case partitioning walls 18 and 20. It will also be notedthat the end portions of at least one of the wires are coiled and twisted and wrapped around the other wires as at 22 whereby to thus group and assemble all of the wires 'and to, maintain the prongedfingers in their.ready-to-useposition. If desired the wires may be welded. i

It will be clear, having examined the drawings, that the concept has to do with a construction in which the fingers may be used in pairs or in a group of three as shown for instance in Fig. 2. Here two strands of wire are denoted at 2'4 and these form the elongated body portion 26. Their respective outer end portions are bent laterally to provide the fingers 28 and the terminal pointed anchoring prongs 30. The third length of wire is longer than the other wires and its intermediate portion is U-shaped in form to provide a depending missing wall replacement member and this is denoted by the numeral 32. The bight portion 34 is parallel and beneath the body portion and the arms 36 have portions twisted around the wires 24 to join the several wires together at 38. The end portions are extended to provide the lateral fingers '40 and terminal pointed prongs 42.

An examination of Fig. 1 will show that the brackets may be used in the way shown and in other ways which will be apparent to the user. It will be evident that the brackets are easy, fast and permanent. The job of repairing cases is made in a matter of seconds without the use of nails, screws or the drilling of holes. The pronged fingers serve as grips and may be fastened readily in place with the nose of common pliers.

It should be understood in connection with the interpretation of the figures, say for example, in Fig. 3, that the wire strands 8 forming the body portion '6 may be grouped in parallelism or may be twisted, welded or otherwise joined for the full length of the body portion. Not only this the invention contemplates grouping the wires of the body portion in two or more components or strands and the U-shaped portion in Fig. 2 may be formed from one of the strands or separably made and attached as manufacturing requirements and economies dictate.

Although Fig. 2 discloses the bight portion of the U-shaped member as straight and parallel to the body portion it will be evident that the shape may vary. In fact, the part 32 need not necessarily be strictly U-shaped but may be treated as substantially or approximately U-shaped. Not only this, the U-shaped wire may be an added wire or it may be any one of the wires which go into make up the over-all structural device. The claims are to be construed accordingly.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A bracket for mending and repairing a damaged beverage case of a type having interior partitioning walls comprising a generally straight wire body portion adapted to lie in a plane common to the plane of the upper edges of adjacent cooperating case partitioning walls and to, at the same time, take the place of a missing part of one of said partitioning walls, and a group of cooperating companion wire fingers located at the respective end portions of said body portion, said fingers being bendably spaced from each other and having free lower ends terminating in pointed anchoring prongs directed inwardly toward each other, said fingers being adapted to accommodate and adjust themselves to and embrace cooperating portions of the partitioning walls with which they are connected and by way of which they are held in their intended position, said bracket being formed in its entirety from companion strands of wire, and the respective end portions of at least one wire being coiled and wrapped around adjacent companion wires in a manner to cooperatively join all of the strands together to define said body portion. I

2. The structure defined in claim 1, and means carried 4 by and depending from said body portion inwardly of the respective ends thereof and adapted to function as a cell defining and completing member, said means comprising a strand of wire U-shaped in form and having end portions of its arms coiled and wrapped around corresponding end portions of said body portion inwardly of the respectively adjacent fingers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 63,086 Peebels Mar. 19, 1867 417,313 De Haven Dec. 17, 1889 876,872 Hart Jan. 14, 1908 1,871,482 Turner Aug. 16, 1932 2,489,742 Brodnax Nov. 29, 1949 2,597,342 Lang May 20, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 41,120 France Aug. 2, 1932 

